by Miccah on 2012/1/11 13:54:30I am going to move the subject a little bit, but I have a question. Is it ok for a Homosexual or a Lesbian to teach? Why or why not?I can say that I have heard some preach/teach with what sounds like a great authority on the scriptures. Why is this?
_________________Lisa
I think you also should start another thread with this topic!!
_________________Christiaan
Hey there Miccah,Quick question: In your opinion, should sisters be teaching on SI? Thanks,Pilgrim
It occurs to me that when the war broke out in America suddenly the women were allowed to work out of the homes. They served in the war effort. Then womens status got connected with career. Yet, the difference between career "opportunity and exploitation can be marginal. That can be true in the religious institution also. Women (and men) who find their sense of worth in status are prone to being used by those religious institutions. But the solution is not in endless preoccupation with prohibitions. Look! Our homes/families/children have fallen into havoc and we are in a crisis no less than the crisis of world war. Look at these bombs dropping all around us: - One of every four adolescents in the U.S. is currently at serious risk of not achieving productive adulthood. - 21 percent of U.S. children ages nine to 17 have a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder associated with at least minimum impairment. - 20 percent of students report having seriously considered suicide in the past year. . and much more We are in a devastating war folks. There is blood everywhere! Does anybody care??? We need all Gods people on board! Should we not focus on empowerment (what God empowers his people to do in society), rather than on prohibitions (what they cannot do in church)? Here is where the church can shine! Mary humbly sat at the feet of Jesus to LEARN. Learning is NOT gender-specific (like in Jesus day). If Gods people arent eager to LEARN, they are not going to be equipped to stand against the assaults. And they certainly wont be effective teachers no! Not in any capacity. Why dispute over whos in the pulpit when theres a big war going on and when we are ill-prepared to serve where we could be most useful - in the hearts of our young folk who are broken and suffering from a profound sense of emptiness and meaninglessness. Lets get beyond our obsessive need to observe the LETTER at the expense of our true calling. Let us seek God to help us live by the spirit of the law. The LETTER of the law focuses on PROHIBITIONS The SPIRIT of the law focuses on EMPOWERMENT And, God knows: Today we need empowered soldiers of the cross! Diane
_________________Diane
Women Served in the New Testament Church as Deaconesses.Women prophesied in the church assembly, and therefore probably also taught there.Paul made extensive use of the service of women, probably including a spoken ministry.Women can cast our demons.Women can learn from Jesus directly.Women don't need a mediator between them and Jesus.Women can move God in prayer.Women can pray for the sick.Women can witness, preach the Gospel and lead people to Christ.Women can share what the Lord has taught them. Women can disciple others.Why? How is this possible? For the same reasons that man can do all these things...Jesus Christ!Finally, as we have seen in the case of Deborah, God can and will go to female leadership even at the highest level, especially if the men are unwilling or unable to get the job done....Women have to wear head coverings.Women cannot speak in some churches.Women cannot teach in some churches.Women cannot be deaconesses in some churches.Women cannot preach in some churches.Women cannot pray for the sick in some churches.Women cannot cast out demons in some churches.Why?ReligionSinners are treated better than some Holy Ghost filled, obedient women of God, bearing much fruit.Great article to read that covers the following verses used to keep women of God "in their place".I Cor. 14:34,35 Let the women keep silent in the church for they are not permitted to speak...in church.I Tim. 2:12 I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression. But women shall be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self restraint.Tit. 2:3ff Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible...http://www.xenos.org/essays/against-traditional-fundamentalist-view-role-women-church
Right now I am intensely burdened! Ive been with SI for 7 years, and I wonder: Why do we keep going in circles on the same subjects? Why do we get so stuck in matters of law- legalities? Will we ever move forward? Frankly, I hate being labeled antinomian or umbilical just because I suggest the spirit of the law. Let me tell you: I live by law! Thousands upon thousands of them! I believe in laws. Why today I taught my piano student laws. She has to go home and practice following these laws until they become so natural that she can play freely and expressively without even thinking about the laws. Only then is she free to think about the spirit of the music. She can appreciate the composers vision for the music. She can play music in harmony and balance with other musicians. She'll know when to be silent, and when to play. And she can even improvise (which to a legalist is tantamount to law-breaking!)I'm not talking about the absence of laws, that is: Just listen to "the spirit". (that's merely a copout!) So: If we are still obsessing over laws, we are just beginners - stunted. We are like little children who are too immature to see the spirit behind the rules. May God help us grow up! Then we can make fine-sounding music together in perfect harmony, in perfect flow with the Directors vision for us. Yes, then we might even have revival - right here on SI. Diane
PilgrimWhat you have written is all true, but discounts a couple things. In the garden the serpent got to the woman, and the woman got to the man. This is a pattern established there that the inherent weakness of the woman is to the serpent, and the inherent weakness of the man is to the woman. It is repeatable over and over. That is why the Lord has place the husband to protect the wife from the serpent's lie, and why he has the wife through submission, protect the man from his weakness to women. Now the Lord can and has worked in spite of this established order, but you have to admit that when this order is properly displayed it is a beautiful thing. The Lord takes pleasure in the beautiful as we do, because it brings glory to His name. Now suppose in said house we have an "on fire" Christian wife, and wife-beating lout for a husband. It's not so beautiful is it? Why, the woman ends up doing too much for her to bear. Now suppose it is reversed and the man is the Christian and the woman is the lout. The man generally has little God-ordained protection from the guile of his wife nor of other women. Of necessity, people exist everywhere in the world in both cases, but it is not very beautiful to watch. OJ
Right now I am intensely burdened! Ive been with SI for 7 years, and I wonder: Why do we keep going in circles on the same subjects? Why do we get so stuck in matters of law- legalities? Will we ever move forward? ...So: If we are still obsessing over laws, we are just beginners - stunted. We are like little children who are too immature to see the spirit behind the rules.
Open statement:When you talk, I don't care who you are, I should be able to tell that you have met with God, and that He gave you something to say!!! Today I don't run across many people (man or woman) that I can say that about. I run into lot's who have met with a theology, a church, a bible school, even a Bible, but I don't meet many that have met with God, and that includes most of the sermons featured here!!OJ
Be encouraged, the Kingdom of God is bigger (in their hearts) than you think.